Once again the Atlantic Zone of the CMHA gathered together an amazing group of speakers, attendees, food, music and dancing the weekend of March 31 to April 2nd in Saint John, New Brunswick. The last time it was in Saint John was in 2002. The Committee members began a year ahead of the convention dates so they could book their amazing lineup of speakers and book the hotel Delta Brunswick. And amazing it was.

There were 4 speakers. We were lucky to attain Elaine Ward who is the founder of the Western Style Dressage Association of Canada. She has been teaching western riders the art of Dressage since 1981. She specializes in bio-mechanics and works primarily on the rider’s position to improve the performance of the horse. Even those people who did not have an interest in western riding or even dressage came away with lots of tidbits they could use at home. Elaine Ward is also the author of ‘On the Basics’- The Western Style Dressage Manual which sold out very quickly. A couple of favourite quotes- ‘horses have a fear of falling- it you put them off balance, they have no choice but to resist’ and ‘the balance of the horse begins with the eyes of the rider.’

There were also 3 speakers from the Atlantic Veterinary College in PEI. First was Dr. Laurie McDuffee, who is an equine surgeon and scientist, spoke about Applied Equine Behaviour- she is studying equine learning theory and how we can use this knowledge in the humane handling of horses. She spoke of many new methods of handling- the one that was most useful for many situations such as needling, clipping, worming, scary objects was overshadowing where two or more stimulus is used to take the horse’s mind off the scary situation. Dr. Tammy Muirhead talked about the Senior Equine which is of importance to us since our equines are living such longer lives now. Her topics covered the signs of aging, nutrition, pasture environment, parasites, dental care immunity and age related diseases. Lastly, Dr. Wendy Duckett, who is a professor of large animal welfare and has expertise in large animal internal medicine, spoke about Equine Parasites. Dr. Duckett made a rather dry topic into a lively and humorous discussion! Dr. Duckett emphasized that 95% of all colics are due to parasites plus we need to deworm for tapeworms in our region and if your horse is living in a place where there are mules or donkeys, they can infect your horse with lungworms- the donkey doesn’t get sick but the horses do.

All the talks were well attended- between 30 to 35 people each day and the attendees were not just Morgan owners- there were many local people who owned other breeds of horses. This convention had 24 full registrations and 50 walk-ins, and we are hoping for a higher attendance next year at the convention in Regina, Saskatchewan.

The highlight of Friday night was the Auction and entertainment. There were 45 different lots on the auction table- some of which were Morgan horse or equine related. The evening ending off with the lively local band ‘Just the 4 of Us’ featuring Shirley Cochrane, (who happens to be a Morgan owner) Ron Vincent, Ross Mouland, Chip Lawton, and Geoff Banks.Shirley Cochran-Vocalist Ron Vincent-Piano Ross Mouland-Sax Chip Lawton-Bass Geoff Banks-Percussion Shirley Cochran-Vocalist Ron Vincent-Piano Ross Mouland-Sax Chip Lawton-Bass Geoff Banks-Percussion Shirley Cochran-Vocalist Ron Vincent-Piano Ross Mouland-Sax Chip Lawton-Bass Geoff Banks-Percussion Do you remember people dancing to the tune of ‘When the Saints Come Marching In?’

Saturday night featured a very tasty buffet supper (have you seen so many sweets?) to the accompaniment of ‘Pegasus’ followed by the handing out the national awards. We were also entertained by Madeleine LeBlanc and Vivian Mason with their little curls and big smiles. It was Madeleine’s birthday.

We had lots of positive comments about the convention- one from Bev Sanders from NB-‘ Thank-you for all your hard work Morgan Club of NB. You should be proud. I really enjoyed the speakers...so much to learn from the professionals and I loved meeting the visitors to our City. Hope they come back!’ and from Tina Stringer Collins of Ontario- ‘Thank you to you and the committee for all of your hard work! We certainly enjoyed the New Brunswick hospitality!’

A big thank you goes out to all of our sponsors and advertisers, attendees, speakers, auctioneer and volunteers. Without everyone’s input the CMHA Convention of 2016 would not have been the success that it was.